COMMUNICATING USING A CLOUD INFRASTRUCTURE

• US 20110208958A1
• Filed: 06/14/2010
• Published: 08/25/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/23/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Ramasubramanian, Venugopalan, Stuedi, Patrick, Wobber, Edward P., Mao, Zhuoqing Morley, Balakrishnan, Mahesh, Mohomed, Iqbal
• Granted Patent: US 8,701,155 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/150
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/176 Support for shared access to files; File sharing support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/40 of multimedia data, e.g. slideshows comprising image and additional audio data retrieval of still image data G06F16/50; retrieval of audio data G06F16/60; retrieval of video data G06F16/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0825 using asymmetric-key encryption or public key infrastructure [PKI], e.g. key signature or public key certificates

Abstract

A cloud infrastructure that communicates with computing devices is provided. The computing devices install filters on other computing devices that they wish to receive items from including pictures, messages, and documents. The filters include criteria that are evaluated on the computing devices, rather than at a server, to determine if an item may be sent to another computing device. The computing devices may then send items that match the criteria to the cloud infrastructure, and the items may be stored and queued for delivery to other computing devices. The items may be encrypted before being provided to the cloud infrastructure, and decrypted when received by the computing devices.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a filter from a cloud infrastructure by a first computing device, wherein the filter has a criteria and is associated with a second computing device;

generating an item by the first computing device;

determining if the item satisfies the associated criteria of the filter by the first computing device; and

if so, providing the item to the cloud infrastructure for delivery to the second computing device by the first computing device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising publishing a list of computing devices trusted by the first computing device to the cloud infrastructure by the first computing device.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving a filter from the second computing device for delivery to the first computing device by the cloud infrastructure;

determining if the second computing device is on the list of computing devices trusted by the first computing device; and

if so, providing the filter to the first computing device by the cloud infrastructure.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the generated item at the cloud infrastructure; and

associating the generated item with a queue corresponding to the second computing device.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising storing the item in a cache by the cloud infrastructure.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

receiving a request at the cloud infrastructure from the second computing device for any items associated with the queue corresponding to the second computing device;

determining items associated with queue corresponding to the second computing device by the cloud infrastructure;

retrieving the determined items from the cache by the cloud infrastructure; and

providing the determined items from the cache by the cloud infrastructure to the second computing device.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising associating the item with an expiration date.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising associating the item with a version number.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first computing device encrypts the item before providing the item to the cloud infrastructure.

10. A method comprising:

generating a filter by a first computing device, wherein the filter is associated with a criteria and the first computing device;

providing the generated filter to a cloud infrastructure for delivery to a second computing device by the first computing device;

providing a request to receive an item to the cloud infrastructure by the first computing device; and

receiving an item from the cloud infrastructure by the first computing device, wherein the item satisfies the criteria of the filter and was generated by the second computing device.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving the filter at the cloud infrastructure from the first computing device by the cloud infrastructure;

receiving a list of computing devices trusted by the second computing device by the cloud infrastructure;

determining if the first computing device is on the list of computing devices trusted by the second computing device; and

if so, associating the received filter with a queue corresponding to the second computing device.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the item is associated with a version number.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the first computing device is a mobile phone.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the received item was encrypted by the second computing device, and further comprising decrypting the item by the first computing device.

15. A system comprising:

a cloud infrastructure;

a first computing device that;

generates a filter, wherein the filter has an associated criteria and is associated with the first computing device; and

provides the filter to the cloud infrastructure; and

a second computing device that;

receives the filter from the cloud computing device;

generates an item;

determines if the item satisfies the criteria associated with the filter; and

if so, provides the item to the cloud infrastructure.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the second computing device encrypts the item before providing the item to the cloud infrastructure.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the second computing device associates the item with an expiration date.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the cloud infrastructure further:

receives the item;

associates the item with a queue corresponding to the first computing device; and

stores the item in a cache.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the cloud infrastructure further:

receives a request for any items associated with the queue corresponding to the first computing device;

determines items associated with the queue corresponding to the first computing device; and

provides the determined items associated with the queue corresponding to the first computing device to the first computing device.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the item is one of video data, audio data, or image data.